Finding Your Limits

Day four of the Pan Ohio Hope Ride allowed me to experience my limits. We left at 7:00 a.m. for our last 79 mile ride. Mostly flats for the first 70 miles and then we were told to expect a gradual uphill into Cincinnati. We road along the Little Miami River trail. Beautiful morning...great sunrise and a wonderfully shaded trail. As the morning wore on and the sun rose higher in the sky, the temperatures climbed. By now many of us were physically spent. We constantly cheered each other on as we passed one another or arrived at rest areas. Our emotional high was dampered by a crash. One of our rider ran headlong into another bicyclist along the trail. Each were pretty bruised and sustained several cuts. Our rider was taken to the hospital and not able to finish the day. As we made good time into Cincinnati the temperature reached 95. As I began the ride into the city I saw the gradule up hill climb that we were briefed about. At this point my legs had peddled 285 miles in three plus days. I was spend physically, emotionally, and mentally. It is at this point I began to wonder, "Can I do this last five miles". Not a great mental message at this point. Then "hope" kicked in. I remembered family members who wondered if they could fight on as they faced cancer. I was sure their pain was greater than mine at this moment and I smashed down on the peddles and gutted out one of the longest five miles of the whole ride. As I neared Hide Park I began thinking that I was nearing the end; the gradule hill continued. Would I ever be done? Then I saw the crest of the hill and pushed harder and harder. I crested the hill and began the descent when I began to hear cheers and yells and whoops.....the riders who had already finished were there cheering me on; imploring me to sprint home. As I arrived at the stop we all exchanged "high fives", hugs, and cheers and then turned our attention to the next set of riders cresting the hill. This went on until everyone was home at the Hide Park meeting area. Once everyone arrived we gathered together to mount our bikes one more time. With the ambulance that had been with us the whole ride in back and their support truck in front, we bunched up into one big pellaton ready to ride into the Hope Lodge together - one time; one family. As we began to ride as a group toward the Lodge the silence was deafening. I thought of the four days; the challenges, the victories, the pain, the miles. I thought of my family members who wrestled with cancer. I thought of my fellow cyclists and the stories we had shared. As we rounded the last turn we could hear the cheering of the countless volunteers we had aided us along our way as they stood at the Hope Lodge to greet us. Family members, friends the media all waiting our arrival. Bagpipes played as we cross into the parking lot. Tears flowed! Tears of joy, tears of accomplishment, tears of sorrow. All the emotions present in the moment. We had made it. The inauguaral Pan Ohio Hope Ride was now history. A dream of a few, shared by all of us cyclists, to raise money to support those facing their own challenge with cancer. I know that I am a better person for having shared these past four days with my fellow cyclists.